Metroid: Transitions
by Cantonbags
Summary: A lone pirate is trapped on a Galactic Federation ship...holding the first ever captured metroids.


Metroid: Transitions

By: Lauren Bagley

**Author's note: **_This is a fan fiction story that I have made up based on the popular game series, Metroid. Everything in this story is fictional, and is only the opinion of the writer, which is me. Metroid and the Metroid idea are all property of Nintendo, and I made none of them up. The rest, such as fictional characters and places, are made by me but are not approved by Nintendo in any way. This story takes place before the real Metroid games began, roughly 3 to 4 months before. You can just call this a fan's tribute and I hope you enjoy **Metroid: Transitions!**_

Chapter I 

The darkness of space threatened to overwhelm him. He found pleasure in the feeling. Glyjin sat back in his chair as the small ship he and his troops were in traveled through the voids of the galaxy. There weren't many space pirates with him, but then again, Glyjin was on a small mission, which didn't require strength in numbers.

The High Commander of the space pirates, Ridley, had sent them on a search for a new power source, one that would get them closer to their goal of galactic domination, and report back when they did. That's when the real fun would start; Ridley would send more space pirates over to the power source and anyone who got in their way would likely get their head blown off.

Glyjin remembered another incident much like this one that happened 15 years ago, which had turned out to be a false alarm. Glyjin had sent a fleet of pirates over to raid a colony planet known as K-2L. The troops had killed off everything and everyone on the planet, but it had been a hollow victory. The colony had been too small to support anything of real value, and Ridley had punished Glyjin for wasting their time. The large scars on his chest and face were a lasting reminder of the incident, and that one more mess-up wouldn't be tolerated. It was a miracle that Glyjin had even survived the out lash from Ridley. Many rumors floated around the event, and many believed that there was more to the story than first thought. But only Glyjin and Ridley knew the full truth, and no one was fool enough to ask them.

He closed his eyes in thought and fingered his scythe absentmindedly. Behind him, a pair of glowing yellow eyes could be seen through the darkness of the ship.

"Sir, I believe we have found something on our radar that could be of interest for you." Glyjin stood up and walked over to the other pirate. "Show me."

The pirate gestured for him to follow, and they entered a room that was filled with four pirates surveying the new information that was coming up on one of the computers. Glyjin went over to take a look.

On the screen was a typical Galactic Federation Research Carrier, and by the size of it, it was a class Omega. Research Carriers ranged in size, depending on what they were transporting. In other words, the bigger they are, the more valuable or dangerous the cargo was. Glyjin was hoping for the latter.

"Computer, engage a scan of what this vessel is carrying." Glyjin said in his native garbled speech. The computer began scanning and soon found an unusually cold room in the quarantine storage area of the ship. Glyjin raised an eyebrow. "Computer, are any life signs detected in this room?"

"Scanning...Faint life signs detected. Creature unknown. Visual aid and known data acquired." Just then, a picture came up on the screen of a floating parasitic creature Glyjin had never seen before. His eyes widened as he began reading about its energy absorbing properties, but before he could get any farther, an explosion rocked the small ship.

"What the hell was that?" Glyjin got up and ran over to the control deck. They were under attack from the Research Carrier, and it was already doing significant damage to the ship.

"Sir, our shields and weaponry are both down, and one of our turbines are gone." The Carrier is preparing another attack as we speak. There's no choice, we have to emergency land on planet Rhicon."

"Shit!" yelled Glyjin as the ship was rocked with another immense attack. The computer screen now read that the engine was down and they had about 20 minutes of oxygen left. Planet Rhicon loomed in front of them; there was no avoiding it, they were going to crash. They were just going to have to ride it out and hope for the best.

As the ship descended into the planet's atmosphere, it began ringing out warnings as pistons and pipes blew from the intense heat and pressure ensuing on the small vessel. Glyjin gripped the control panels, trying to keep himself from falling over in all the chaos. He was oblivious to anything else going on in the ship; his ears were ringing as he bared his teeth, waiting for the impact.

The ground was soaring up to meet them, as well as the jagged rocks that covered the surface of the planet. The impact seemed to take an eternity to complete, even though it all happened in less than a minute. Glyjin went flying forward into the control panel, narrowly missing a sharp rock that tore its way in through the front of the ship. It crushed one of the pirates against the wall before retreating back out of the ship slightly. Just as the horrible realization hit Glyjin, the ship began to flip over. Glyjin felt himself falling towards the back wall, where the guts of the other pirate were splattered everywhere. He felt something sharp hit his side as he fell and saw a large piece of glass sticking out of his side. Pain shot through his body as he made to pull it out, but before he could, something large hit him in the back of his head. He fell to the ground and remembered nothing else.

Chapter II 

A noise.

A faint whisper of the outside world was all that it took to stir him. His eyes twitched, and he slowly opened them. Glyjin growled softly as the pain in his side and head and the events surrounding them came flooding back to him. He closed his eyes again. He had no idea where he was or how he had gotten there, the only thing that mattered right now was that he was alive. He moved his clawed hand up to feel for the glass in his side, but found that it wasn't there. This woke him up fully and he snapped his eyes open to find out where he was.

Glyjin was horrified to find himself inside a liquid-filled status container of some sort. The only way he was breathing was through an air mask and found that a few sensors were also connected to his exoskeleton, possibly monitoring his state at that very moment. He looked down at his arms to find both his scythe and gun were missing, as was the cut on his side, though in its place was a blotchy black-green bruise. Glyjin's anger mounted as he realized that someone had messed with his body, but it was soon stymied by the fresh wave of pain that shot through his body.

Fighting to stay conscious, Glyjin looked around the room in which he was in. It was a dark laboratory, the only light coming from the computers and the hallway. In the corner, a young man sat hunched over in his chair, sleeping. He was the only human in the entire room, making Glyjin believe that it was either very late or the people aboard this ship had severely underestimated him. Or both.

Glyjin looked away from the man and began studying the glass. He squinted his eyes and ran his hand up and down its smooth surface, feeling for any flaws in it. Glyjin was weak, but he had to get out of this place and contact the space pirate headquarters as soon as possible. He gave another quick look around the room, and then punched the glass. A small crack began to weave its way through it from the point of impact and the container began to break under the pressure. The cracks got larger and wider, until finally the status container exploded, pouring the water all through the laboratory.

Jason Raptor awoke suddenly, startled by the explosion that had just happened in the lab. He stood up and glanced frantically around the room, until his eyes finally landed on the status container. The container was completely smashed apart, with shards of glass littering the floor three yards away. Lying in front of the tank was the space pirate they had captured earlier. It wasn't moving. Panicking, Jason ran over to the pirate, and rolled it over on its back to make sure it wasn't dead. The pirate winced slightly in pain as pieces of glass drove their way through his exoskeleton, mixing the dark green blood with the water on the floor. Jason saw that the creature was covered in bruises, worst being on his right side, and a few small cuts covered his body from the glass on the floor. Besides that, all that was visible on his skin were three long scars across its chest, as well as two on his face. That didn't mean that something on the inside could be damaged, and that would signify the worst for the pirate. He softly pressed against the pirate's side, hoping for no broken ribs, that is, if the pirate had any.

Out of nowhere, a clawed hand grabbed Jason's wrist tightly, and a slight growl escaped the pirate's lips. Jason gasped at its strength, despite the horrific wounds that covered his flesh.

"If you even touch me," he stated softly, "you'll be dead before you can utter another word." Jason didn't want to take any chances with the pirate, but he couldn't just leave it here. He tried to pull his hand away from the pirate, but its death grip held firm.

"Please," Jason said tentatively, "let me help you. You're badly wounded, and I can't risk you dieing on me." The pirates grip tightened slightly as pain swept over him again, and then its hand fell to its chest as he coughed and gasped for air.

"I've survived worse kid." He shuddered again as he took in another breath. "Damn, it hurts though." Jason looked at him worriedly. Pirate or not, he couldn't just leave him there. He quickly went over to one of the monitors to clarify what was wrong. He winced at the screen. Though the pirate had no ribs, the right side of his exoskeleton was slightly caved in, rendering his breathing. The pirate was lucky that the piece of glass that had cut his side had not punctured his lungs, or any other vital organs. Even luckier was that was the worst of the damage that the pirate had succumbed to, besides a nasty hit to the back of the head.

"Are there any painkillers on this ship?" he heard the pirate ask in a raspy voice. Jason nodded and went into one of the drawers in his desk, pulled out a needle and walked back over to the wounded pirate. "You're going to need it, with that thing on your side." He tested the needle and handed it over the pirate, knowing he would rather prefer to do it himself. The pirate slowly grabbed for the syringe, and then stared at Jason in a questioning manner.

"How do I know that this isn't a trap? For all I know, this could be some sort of euthanasia. You humans are prone to do that with suffering pets and such." Jason shrugged and simply told him, "It seems to be a priority to keep you alive, and plus, you said yourself that you had survived worse." Jason knew that the pirate was running what he had said through his mind, but as another wave of pain pounded down on him, he reluctantly stuck the needle in his upper arm. A slight sigh came from the pirate and he sat up clutching his side, groaning as the pain receded from the wound.

"You're going to need some bandages though, your side is gonna take time to heal with that sort of wound," Jason said and he went over to his desk and pulled out the medical bandages that were kept there. "No, wait, I don't-" the pirate started to protest but it was too late. After much grumbling and complaining from the pirate ("-getting help from a human, I'll never hear the end of it-"), Jason put the finishing touches on the pirate and stood back, admiring his handy work. He looked up and saw that the pirate was staring at him, his face unreadable.

"What's your name?" He asked Jason in a controlled manner.

"I'm Jason Raptor." The pirate's eyes continued to bore into his.

"Why did you help me, Jason?" The question struck Jason as odd. "You were hurt," he said simply. "What else could I have done? Leave you there to die? Oh sure, I could've handed you over to security, buy they would've killed you anyway." The pirate, seemingly satisfied with the answer, looked around the room curiously.

"Why am I here?" he asked. This was something he truly wanted to know.

Jason went into thought at the question. "Well, first we had attacked your ship thinking you would be a threat to us. We watched as your ship fell onto Rhicon and got demolished. Our top scientist, Dr. Stratford, decided that we should go and check out your ship, see what kind of technology it was made of, etc. We had no idea that you were still alive; we were sure that all the pirates aboard had gotten killed in the horrific crash."

"Me and some of the other scientists, including Dr. Stratford, went out to the crash site to see what we could scavenge from your wrecked ship. What we saw on that small ship was some of the most astounding technology we had ever seen aside from a piece of Chozo technology that we picked up on SR388. Anyway, we looked around the rest of the ship and saw that all of the pirates were truly dead...until we found you with a giant gash in your side. So, going against our creed, we took you and quickly went to work to save you from dying on us. So after we cleaned up the wounds on your body, we decided you would be a great study subject and they stuck you into that status tank. They told me to watch over you just in case something weird came up."

The pirate racked all of this through his brain. "Why did you even take me from the ship in the first place? Most humans would have gladly left me stranded on that planet" he said. Jason thought about it for a moment but shrugged his shoulders.

"Stratford had never told us the exact reason for taking you, just that we should. Maybe he didn't want you to die on us as well. I mean, yeah, you could be quite the specimen for Stratford if you lived." The pirate wasn't really listening to Jason anymore. Softly under his breath, he said, "I have a feeling that there's more to this than there seems."

_**Chapter III**_

Glyjin stood over one of the computers in the lab, surveying the information that it had gathered on him. Jason sat in the corner again, watching him. Glyjin's mind was racing as he read how much they had found out about the space pirates. _Too much,_ he thought. His eyes squinted as he typed in a few codes and went to delete the information.

_"Never again..." _The words rang in his ears, just as clear if he had heard them that minute, instead of 15 years ago. _"Never again, Glyjin...or you shall feel my wrath ten-fold..." _He shook his head to clear it of the horrible memory, and continued with his work. Jason got up and watched curiously over his shoulder as Glyjin deleted the files on the space pirates. "What did you do that for? There could've been valuable information in those files."

"Exactly why I did do that. Your race has a horrible knack of knowing things that it really shouldn't." He told Jason. "The greatest advantage over an enemy is to know everything about them and they know nothing about you." After checking that all the files were erased on that computer, he walked away to check another computer just for good measure. Jason snorted. "You actually consider me to be an enemy?"

Glyjin's lip twitched. "No kid, you're not an enemy. If you were, you'd probably be dead by now. You aren't dead only because of the fact that I was horribly weak, and you were kind enough to actually save my life." He paused. "But that doesn't excuse you from being a threat. Anything can be a threat, no matter how small." A silence fell between them as Jason watched Glyjin working on the computers, the glow illuminating the pirates' face and the scars that spread across them.

"How did you get those scars on your face and chest? I couldn't help but notice them when I was checking out your wounds." Something flickered behind Glyjin's eyes and emotion crossed his face for a split second. But it passed, and Glyjin simply said, "It's not something I really want to-"

Suddenly Glyjin looked up, and squinted his eyes towards the door. A small snarl escaped his lips.

"We've got company," he said. Then, like grease lightning, he grabbed Jason and jumped up to the ceiling. It was dark enough up there that no matter how hard you'd try, you'd never be able to see the lurking pirate holding a thoroughly shocked lab scientist.

"Be quiet," he told Jason, "and stay as still as possible." Footsteps could be heard coming down the hall towards their room. Two soldiers came into the room, guns at the ready. The first soldier, a large, burly man, took a quick look around the room and put his gun down.

"Dammit! The subject's already escaped!" The first soldier turned to face the second, who was a female. Above them, Glyjin turned his slightly to get a better view of the conversation between the two.

"Sarah, we may have a problem on our hands. Tell the others to be on red alert, and raise the security around the metroids and the position of President Wilther. She has a short meeting scheduled soon over the situation, we don't want any fatalities here!" Sarah nodded, and then left the room to contact the other soldiers aboard the Carrier. The first soldier took another quick look around the room and then left, closing the door behind him.

Glyjin waited a couple more seconds to make sure they were truly gone before jumping down to the floor with Jason in tow. He let go of Jason who toppled to the ground, and paced back and forth, thinking. Jason got up, and brushed the dirt off of his white lab coat.

"Jeez, did you have to hold onto me so hard?"

"Yes." Jason mumbled a bit and looked over at Glyjin, only to find him staring up at the ceiling.

"That meeting the President is holding, which direction is it from this room?"

"You take a left down the hallway, then take another left and its four doors down, but why? You aren't thinking about going there, are you? I mean you go there you'll be dead for-" He cut off as Glyijn jumped up to the ceiling. "What the hell are you doing?" he said, watching the pirate as he crawled in and out of gloom on the ceiling above him.

"Wait for me here, I'm going to go listen in on this nice little meeting with the President." he called down to him, "And if anyone comes along asking about me, it would be your best interests not to say anything that you might later regret." Jason heard the sound of an air duct being opened, and heard the sound of the pirate's feet as he moved through the ventilation system. Jason stood there and shook his head. "If he doesn't get himself into trouble..." He stared up at the ceiling for a while, then sat back and waited for the pirate's return.

Up in the ventilation system, Glyjin quietly searched for the room that housed the President of the Galactic Federation. He soon saw ahead of him an air duct filtering light up into the darkened shaft. He made his way over to it with minimal noise and peered down into the room. A grin spread across his face. He had found it.

Down in the room, President Scarlet Wilther prepared herself for the meeting by straightening chairs here and there and making sure her make-up looked okay. Then, she gave the guards the signal and her dozen-some visitors came in and took their seats. She looked around at everyone before addressing the meeting at hand.

"Hello and welcome. I'm sure you're all wondering exactly why you're here. It concerns a newly discovered creature discovered on the planet SR388 about 36 hours ago. The creature, dubbed 'Metroid' by the scientists here, could hold the key to a better, more peaceful galaxy." "Of course, that could just as well go the other way, if brought into the wrong hands." Murmurs rose from the leaders and scientists around her. She ignored them and said calmly, "I'll turn this over to our leading scientist here, Dr. Michael Stratford, who has already done many studies on the creatures." A man in his late thirties stood up, and pressed a button before starting his speech. A holographic picture of a metroid was displayed in the middle of the table. It was the same creature that Glyjin had seen back on his ship before it was destroyed.

"Thank you Ms. President. Now, as you can see, the metroid is a floating parasitic creature that originates on the planet SR388. The creature has an astounding ability to drain the 'life-force', more or less the energy, of any living animal it can get a hold of. Luckily, we have not seen this method first-hand, as we subdued the creature with our ice-based weapons before it could attack any of the soldiers or scientists with me when I found it. So how this method is done is unknown as of now, but we do know that the energy is stored in its four-part nucleus, which is surrounded by a gelatinous carapace of sorts. We do hope that we will soon find a test subject so we can see this method first-hand, and maybe understand how the energy is absorbed." His eyes seemed to light up slightly after saying that, and Glyjin's instincts told him that something bad may happen to him. But the glint in Stratford's eye passed unnoticed and he continued with his speech on the metroid.

"Anything else on this creature, how it lives, what it does, the life cycle of a metroid, etc. is unknown, but we believe that its energy-absorbing properties could one day be used for a peaceful purpose." An awkward silence followed his last words. Stratford looked around the room and asked, "Are there any questions?" One woman raised her hand.

"The space pirates seem to be a growing threat in the galaxy, possibly becoming so powerful that even our bounty hunters will soon be overpowered. Do you think that they may just try and take the metroids for their own purposes?"

"That is a huge possibility. Earlier, we had a brief run in with a small space pirate ship. We figured that it may have called more pirates onto the scene for back up, so we gunned them down for fear that they would be a threat. After their ship crashed on planet Rhicon, we went down and managed to take into custody parts of the ship, the weapons the space pirates use, and even captured a live space pirate who was badly wounded at the time." More murmurs rose from the people present. A live pirate? Are they crazy? Just as some were about to voice their disapproval, a knock sounded from the door. Everyone turned to look back at the door.

"Come in." President Wilther said. A lone soldier came into the room and gave President Wilther a piece of paper. All it said was _We don't know were it is. _She stared at it for a while, not comprehending the words. She motioned Dr. Stratford over to her so he could read it as well. His face went pale as he read the small note. Then he nodded to the President and went back to his seat, lost in thought. The President cleared her throat and said clearly,

"This meeting is adjourned due to an unexpected emergency. You are all dismissed." And as the people dissipated from the room, the pirate eavesdropper knew what was on that note, and that it wasn't a good idea to stick around. Besides, he had gotten everything he needed.

Back in the darkened lab, Jason sat half asleep, bored, waiting for the return of someone who just didn't seem to be coming any time soon. Suddenly, he heard a soft thump come from near the back of the room. He shook his head and stared in the direction of the sound, seeing only darkness. He raised an eyebrow and turned his head, only to see himself in the reflection of the space pirate's yellow eyes. It was enough to give him a near heart attack.

"Show me the metroids."

_**Chapter IV**_

"What?"

"You heard me. Show me where the metroids are."

"And you expect me to know where these things are, let alone help you find them?" Glyjin stepped back away from Jason, frowning.

"You mean you don't know where they are? Or how to get to them?"

"No."

"And you won't help me find them?"

"How can I if I don't know where they are myself? Plus, what would you want with those little parasites anyway?" Glyjin hissed loudly, and Jason recoiled in fear. "These 'little parasites' could mean life our death for this entire galaxy! Remember when I told you that anything could be a threat, no matter how small? Well, this is one of those things. This could be the Galactic Federation's greatest discovery or their greatest downfall. It all depends on how you play your cards."

"Are you going to kill me if I don't help you?" asked Jason, frightened by what the answer might be. Glyjin quietly considered the answer for a moment, and finally said, "No, I won't, only because I need you no matter what decision you decide."

"So, here are your choices," he said, a slightly malicious tone is his voice. "You can either help me in my cause to capture the metroids, and have your life spared at the end of it, or you can become my hostage and have your life threatened not only by me, but by the authorities, if they find you expendable. You have to choose one of those, because if you don't, then you'll be pushed to question the authorities when they show up, and they may ask questions you don't want to answer."

Jason's face was shrouded in darkness, so it was impossible to read the expression on his face. Then, with a swift movement, he pulled out a small ray gun, whose size defied the strength it held within. Glyjin stood stock still as Jason held it between the pirate's eyes. When Jason spoke, his voice was cold.

"I refuse to be taken hostage, and I refuse to help you in your cause. You can go and do what you need to, I wont stop you, but if you stay here, I will blow your head to kingdom come." He was dead serious too. Glyjin just stared at him coldly for a moment, then backed away from the gun, which was still pointed at him.

"Fine," he said. "Your choice. I just hope you made the right one." And with that, he jumped to the ceiling, and was gone in the vents once again.

Jason lowered his gun, and sat back down in his chair, suddenly feeling very drained. He looked around the room, taking in everything from the flickering computer screens to the smashed status tank and the water dripping from the few pieces of glass that were still intact. _The GF are gonna have something on their hands when this is through, _he thought solemnly as he slowly slipped into a restless sleep once more.

With an inhuman grace and swiftness, Glyjin made his way silently through the vent system. Below, he could hear the sound of frantic people looking for him, trying to anticipate where he would show up. He soon reached the end of his vent, which he found led into the control room. The room was filled with the sound of humming machinery and the steady throb of the main engine. Large towering silos filled the room, while above near the ceiling catwalks and pipes snaked their way around the mechanisms.

Glyjin took a quick look around the room and noticed soldiers stationed at all exits and few were patrolling between the central hubs. Glyjin knew that if he could cut off some of the power--enough to turn off simple things like lights, while keeping the big things, like life support on--he would have a huge advantage, but it would risk him exposing himself. It was a risk he was willing to take.

Quietly, he opened the air vent and scurried up the wall, and stood up along the catwalk. The soldiers had noticed nothing. He took a quick glance at the door, and found that the soldiers stood there, tense, for any sign of a threat. He smiled at their idiocy. Did they really expect him to come in through the front door? _Underestimated indeed._

Swiftly he moved along the catwalk, looking for anything to take off the main power offline. Glyjin finally saw what he could do, and then quietly formulated his plan. _Those soldiers wont know what hit them, _he thought, as he quietly sprang into action.

Stephen Coswell patrolled through the control room, tense, his gun at the ready. They had been told that a space pirate was loose on board the ship, and Coswell was taking no chances. The veteran soldier had met a pirate once, and knew that they couldn't be taken lightly, not for a minute. Above him, he heard a couple pipes hiss and an odd scraping sound, as in claws or nails scraping along metal. He twisted around and raised his gun, but he saw nothing in the gloom above him. Another soldier, Dave Rustin, noticed the sound as well and pointed his gun upward.

After a minute, Dave shrugged his shoulders and lowered his weapon. "Must've just been a false alarm." Coswell wasn't too sure, but he began to turn away when a shadow shifted and he caught a glimpse of something on the catwalk. He tried to get a better look, but it was gone a second later, leaving behind nothing but a couple of hissing pipes. He squinted, but continued on his way, his back turned from Dave and some nearby computers.

Suddenly, the sound of crunching metal, a yelp, and a soft growl could be heard. Coswell spun around, his heart throbbing in his chest as he glanced around. If wasn't long until his eyes landed on the busted computer, which was spitting a crackling in its death, and on Dave, who lay on the floor, motionless. Coswell gasped, and ran to warn the others but he didn't get far. A dark figure with glowing eyes dropped in front of him and before he could react, the pirate grabbed his neck and twisted it with a resounding crack. It dropped the dead body and jumped back into the shadows, only his eyes visible in the gloom. A few seconds later, the sound of wrenching metal could be heard, followed by a series of loud hissing and crackling, shouts of surprise and commands, and a victorious roar as the lights went out and everything was drowned in darkness.

In the dark laboratory, five soldiers and President Wilther stood over the dosing young scientist in front of them. The Galactic Federation's President reached out and shook him gently to wake him from his slumber. Grumbling, he opened his eyes slowly, and then snapped awake as he saw all the officials crammed into the small lab.

"Jason Raptor?" she said kindly.

"Ye-yes?" He said hesitantly, trying not to look at the soldiers who were now checking over the computers and status tank.

"Was this the room where the pirate was being held?" when he nodded, she continued. "Do you know where the pirate is now, and how he got away if you are here?" Jason nodded and gulped. He would have to lie, he couldn't let the President know that he had let the pirate go, as well as saved his life.

"I...I don't remember much of what happened, really," he said. "See, I was sleeping when he broke out of the status tank, and before I could really do anything to stop him, he came up and hit me in the head with something...I don't know what, since it was from behind. I passed out then, and he made his escape while I was down. I'm sorry Ms. President, but I don't know where the pirate is." He hung his head as if in shame from doing something wrong. Wilther looked at him with sad eyes, then said, "It's alright Jason, you told us everything you could. But can you come and check the computers and see if he took any information? I can't get on them without your password." He nodded, then stood up and walked over to one of the computers, pretending to check through the files. As he checked through the many programs, he overheard President Wilther talking to some soldiers. Focusing his eyes on the screen, he tried to listen to what they were saying.

"...And you say he wasn't in the room at the time?"

"No, he wasn't there at all, and it was just before we sounded off the alarm."

"Well, that is strange, because according to Raptor's story, he got knocked out, so he couldn't have left the room..."

Jason strained to hear more, but an odd ringing filled his ears. A bead of sweat rolled down his cheek as he continued his pointless search. _The pirate was right; it's too risky to stay. I need to get out of here and find that pirate. _He took a deep breath and looked up from the screen.

"Ms. President?" She turned to him and put on her calm demeanor. "I looked through the files, and it seems that the pirate didn't take any, but he did delete all of the ones on space pirates, and that includes the arsenals and physical anatomy."

"Thank you Jason." Just then, the lights on the screens and in the hallways dimmed, leaving them in darkness. The soldiers tensed for a moment, then filed out of the room with Wilther behind them. She took one last look around the room, her eyes lastly resting on Jason, and then turned down the hall in hot pursuit of the fast moving soldiers.

As soon as she was gone, Jason picked up his bag that hung from the chair, pocketed his gun, and then raced out into the darkened hallway.

_**Chapter V **_

Dr. Michael Stratford cursed aloud as he looked over his computer screen, finding that all of his files on space pirates and their activities were completely gone. He wanted to prove that everything was ok, that one lone pirate was no threat, but the current situations were proving that false. It wasn't even a half an hour after the meeting, and already four soldiers weren't responding to the calls and warnings being given out to them. Things were falling apart in front of everyone on this ship, all because of one pirate. _How could things get any worse for us?_ The instant power outage just gave him the answer to his question. _So that's where you are..._ he thought to himself, as the room around him erupted in panic. _...But where are you headed now?_ The answer came to him and he was out of the room before anyone realized that he was gone.

Glyjin dashed out of the control room, running down cold stone steps to the lower level. His weapons--as a dieing computer was nice enough to show him--were supposed to be on this level, one door down. Glyjin looked around, listening intently for anyone that could be headed his way. His position was sure to be noticed by now, so he was on high alert for any threat. He heard nothing but the frantic screaming and panic that sometimes ensue with a sudden black out. Glyjin put aside his fears for now, and made a dash down the dark hallway towards the room holding his equipment. He stopped by an open door way, and looked in.

"Bingo," he said softly as he spotted his armaments on a table by the far wall. Oddly, one was missing, but he thought nothing of it and made a beeline for the table. Before he could make it, though, he spotted movement in the corner, then his side erupted in pain and he fell to the ground feet from the weaponry table. Glyjin growled deeply as he stared up at the face of Dr. Michael Stratford, who was holding the pirate's gun in his hands.

"I thought I would find you here." He leaned back and picked up another piece of weaponry, examining it from every angle. Stratford looked back to Glyjin, who stood up, clutching his side where he had been hit. The bandages underneath his hand were black and smoldering, his bruise throbbed in pain. Glyjin tried not to show any of it on his face.

"Were you looking for this? I must say, it's a fine piece of work, unlike anything I've ever seen." Glyjin said nothing. Stratford raised one of his bushy eyebrows.

"You'd think that a creature as intelligent as you would know when he was being complimented, and not just stand there, acting like a dumb-ass." Glyjin's eyes glinted with suppress anger, but he smiled and said, "I'm sorry doctor, but anything that comes from you can't be considered a compliment, even if you did save my life. Plus, that's about the worst pirate equipment you'll ever find, but of course that must be saying something when shown against the pitiful things you call a 'weapon.'" The pirate must have hit a nerve, because Stratford pulled out a powerful ray gun from underneath his lab coat, and held it up to pirate, who stared at it uninterestingly. Glyjin truly knew that the gun could do significant damage to him, but he couldn't let the doctor see that he held any fear inside.

"You know that would never kill me doctor."

"O, but do you really want to put it to the test, pirate?" Glyjin hesitated. Stratford smiled. "Yeah, that's just what I thought. Of course, its not like you could hurt me right now, in your poor wounded-"

A shot rang out. Stratford yelled out in pain and fell to the ground, clutching his calf, which was bleeding from the open wound that had suddenly appeared there. Glyjin, searching for the source of the blast, was stunned as his gazed fixed upon the person standing in the doorway.

It was Jason.

Something inside Glyjin seemed to stir then, and his eyes flickered slightly, but only slightly. He turned to Stratford again, then grabbed the whimpering doctor and slammed him into a nearby wall.

"Still want to test my strength now, doctor?" he snarled in Stratford's face. He just hung there, panting, staring at the pirate defiantly, but the fear in his eyes could not be masked. Glyjin smiled.

Stratford looked around, searching for a way out. His eyes landed on Jason, who was still standing out in the hallway. "What's this?" He asked the pirate, who stared back at him. "Is this your little helper? Can't take on this big Carrier by your lonesome," He sneered at Glyjin, whose eyes flicked over his shoulder for a moment, but they landed back on Stratford's quickly paling face.

"He is none of your concern." He whispered to the doctor with barely controlled anger. Stratford smiled.

"He's grown on you hasn't he? Being your little pet, doing everything you ask him..." Glyjin's squinted his eyes slightly. _No, _he thought._ Never again..._ He closed his eyes and forced the memory be pushed to the back of his mind. He snapped open his eyes when he heard Stratford's laughter.

"What do you know, even a pirate has feelings. Too bad I have to give you to the metroids, you would've made a great study subject."

"What? Is that the reason you took me in the first place? As food?"

Stratford's laughter rang throughout the lab. Glyjin snarled and pushed the doctor farther into the wall, turning his laughter into a yelp of pain. The smile on Stratford's face never faltered though, and he continued to press in on the pirate.

"Of course, what else would we use you as? I saw your lone ship first as a threat, sure, but then I thought how great it would be if I gave you to our metroids? After all, we needed to see its energy-absorbing properties, and what better test subject than a pirate?"

"Oh, I see now. Get rid of the pirate, whom no one would care about or miss. Yes, we really are all trash and waste aren't we?" In a swift motion, Glyjin grabbed Stratford's wrist with his other hand and twisted it, breaking it instantly. Stratford screamed in pain and he fell to his knees as Glyjin dropped his pitiful form, clutching his distorted wrist. Glyjin leaned in close to the doctor's slowly greening face.

"Odd, that's exactly what us pirates think about humans. You're all shit. And just to show you how much I care, I'm going to make sure you have the most painful death possible. It may not be fast, it may not be slow, but it'll be painful. I'll make sure of it." His leg came out of nowhere and kicked the scientist in the head knocking him unconscious. He then pushed aside Stratford's crumpled body and proceeded to the table where his weapons lay, clutching his still burning side. Jason, finally broken out of his trance, walked over to the table. He watched as Glyjin bent down and picked up his weapons lying next to Stratford, then the pirate stood up and put the weapons on the table along with the others.

He said to Jason quietly, "You came back for me." Jason nodded. "Why?"

"They were asking questions I didn't want to answer." He said simply. Glyjin just smiled and reached over for his gun. Jason swept his eyes over the weapons on the table and shook his head in misbelief.

"Our military doesn't even have weapons like this." He stated softly.

"I know, and I would like to keep it that way." Jason reached out to touch the scythe, but Glyjin grabbed his arm before he made it.

"It's bad enough that he touched it," he said, motioning to the lifeless Stratford, "I don't you need you fingering my equipment too." He smiled at him and released his grip. Jason watched him as he looked at his gun before he slipped it onto his right arm.

"I need to put this stuff on as fast as possible. The longer we stay in one spot the more danger we're in of someone finding us." Jason stood up straight and crossed his arms, still watching Glyjin. Glyjin noticed this and frowned at him.

"What?"

"Nothing, just wondering if what the doc said was true. About me growing on you. Is that true?" Glyjin watched him for a while before answering.

"I don't 'like' you per say, I respect you. There's a difference." Jason left it that, though he was slightly depressed. For a second, he thought that he had found the only space pirate with feelings.

_He looks so natural, as if he was incomplete without his weapons. _Jason was sitting in a chair, surveying the pirate as he adjusted his last piece of weaponry. Truly, the pirate looked very impressive, with a gun on one hand, a scythe on the other, plus a plasma rifle at his waist for good measure. And even though he stood quite calmly now, the weapons added to the air of ferocity about him. Jason didn't care about it all that much now, and waited for the pirate with a sense of worry. He looked towards the door impatiently.

"Are you done yet? I think I heard some soldiers come by not too long ago, amazing they didn't even come in the room."

"I'm almost done, so just be patient. I've been standing here for less than five minutes, and already you're bored. It's amazing how you even became a scientist for the Galactic Federation with an attention span like that, I swear..." Jason just rolled his eyes and said, "I'm not bored, just worried is all. We've been in this room for a while, someone's bond to see us soon."

"Well, we better get a move on then," he said and walked over to the door. Jason put his gun in his bag and followed Glyjin over to it. He opened the door to an amazingly deserted hallway, but it wouldn't last that way for long.

"Let's go." They took off down the hallway, and met up with a scientist turning the corner in front of them. He stared at the two figures sprinting towards him and ducked out of the way. They blew right past him and he got up and stared at them as they ran down the hall. Then something slowly clicked in his head

"Hey, waitaminnit... Wait, stop!" But they were too far away to stop, so he ran his fingers through his sandy blonde hair and mentally kicked himself.

Down the hall, Glyjin looked over his shoulder at the bewildered scientist standing in the middle of the corridor. _Wow, what an idiot..._ he thought to himself and kept running. He wasn't the only scientist or soldier they came across, but any one that did wound up dead. The rising death toll though was beginning to attract tons of attention towards their position, and soon many soldiers and scientists were rushing through the halls towards them.

"Shit," Glyjin said softly to himself as he looked behind him and saw the people following them. They were also in front of him, running down the hall, looking for the rogue space pirate. He stopped running and pulled out his plasma rifle. Jason looked back at him in shock and shouted,

"Pirate, what the hell are you doing?" He just raised his guns towards the approaching crowds.

"Get down," he told Jason, who dived for the wall, and fired off the weapons, their beams going through three to four people at a time. They fell immediately, giant gaping holes in their abdomens or chest. The soldiers stopped and stood there, backing up slightly, and began firing their weapons at Glyjin. He grinned in the face of battle and jumped out of the way of their shots, firing off his own at the soldiers.

"Shoot them, Jason! Just make sure you don't get in my way, or you'll be finding that you're soon missing a stomach and liver." Jason listened to his commands and took down a few soldiers and scientists. All the while, Glyjin kept advancing on the human forces, slowly dwindling them. Glyjin became more frantic with every kill, but not out of fear, but more of excitement and the adrenaline rush. He was finally back in his element, and was milking it for all its worth.

Finally, the soldiers let up, and Glyjin put his rifle back in its holster, the battle won. Blood covered parts of the walls, and the stench was almost overwhelming. Jason looked around and took a few deep breaths, but couldn't keep his vomit down. Glyjin looked down at him as he wiped away the spit on his face with his sleeve.

"Are you okay?" Glyjin asked him as he stood up and nodded. His face was slightly pale and he had a few small cuts, but other than that he was fine. Glyjin nodded and they went on their way, stepping over the bodies that littered the hallway. After a few more minutes of uneventful running and a few random turns, something popped into Glyjin's mind and he turned to Jason.

"Do you have any idea where the Quarantine Bay is, let alone where we are going?" Jason shook his head, but stopped.

"Well, we may not know we are going, but I think I know were the Quarantine Bay is."

"Where?" Glyjin said and Jason stopped running and pointed to the door in front of them. Glyjin looked towards it and, as plain as day, the door to the Quarantine area of the ship loomed in front of them, just waiting to be opened.

_**Chapter VI**_

Glyjin gazed at the door in front of them and licked his lips. It was just one thing he needed to pass to get to the galaxy's most potential biological weapon. The place was heavily guarded, but to keep people out whatever it held in was impossible to tell. The door itself was protected with a password and retina scan. Right now of course, the door was as dead as the lights, which meant that getting past should be a piece of cake. Glyjin stood back and raised his plasma rifle to the door.

After a good three shots, the door fell inward into the Quarantine Bay. Glyjin jumped over it, followed by Jason, who lightly stepped over the door, his gun held at the ready.

Glyjin looked around, his eyes sharp in the dark room. He looked around, expecting a horde of soldiers to be waiting for them, but none were forthcoming. Farther down the hall though, there could be heard shouts of shock, and pounding feet on the hard metal floor. Glyjin silently raised his gun and pointed it down the hallway, waiting for the approaching soldiers. The feet slowly grew louder, and finally movement could be seen down the long corridor. Their shouts echoed through the long expanse. Glyjin stared at them grimly and set off four rapid shots. All the soldiers went down and Glyjin stuck his gun back in its holster. He motioned to Jason, who nodded and took off running alongside the pirate.

As they ran on, they saw no one else and heard nothing put their footsteps. It was almost too eerie, the silence, and it seemed almost detached from the real world. They passed by a room, and something came to Glyjin in the silence. He stopped. Jason slowed to a halt and looked back at Glyjin.

"Wha-?" but Glyjin held up his hand to silence him and listened, his ears straining against the silence. His eyes widened; there it was again. A soft, barely audible chirp. Something was in that room they had just passed. Glyjin walked over to the door, and Jason seized his chance

"What's up, Pirate?" Glyjin looked the door up and down, and didn't say anything for a while. He pulled out his powerful plasma rifle and shot the door, leaving a hole in it. Seeming to want no more trouble, the door obediently slid open for him. A soft mist hung by their feet as it crept out from the room. Glyjin looked back at Jason and said, "Keep a watch out, just in case. I have to go in here." Jason nodded and sat down on the floor, his gun at the ready.

Glyjin entered the room slowly and looked around it. The place was lit by the glow of soft blue lights; it seemed to be one of the only rooms that still had power. A quiet fog was rising from the dry ice, giving the room its cold temperature. Glyjin watched as his breath clouded in front of him as he made his way to the middle of the room. Faintly, he heard the chirp again. He moved forward and saw in the middle of the room two small status capsules. He squinted his eyes and walked up to them, and reached out to wipe away the fogged-over glass. Inside the capsule was a small creature, the source of the chirping sound. It slowly floated in its containment cell, sluggish from the cold atmosphere of the room. One of its four sharp mandibles twitched, as if the creature was having a dream in its cold prison, and underneath its gelatinous shell, a quadripartite nucleus pulsated slightly. Glyjin was staring at a metroid. He slowly breathed out and stared down at it. It looked so harmless, but he knew that was not true. From what he had heard, this little guy could suck you dry in two minutes flat. The military potential of it all was calling out to the space pirate, and he knew something big was going to come out of these two small invertebrates.

He looked away from the metroids for a second and spotted something in the corner of the room. Glyjin walked over to a small piece of equipment that he was very familiar with, but knew little of. The piece of chozo technology loomed out of the darkness, visible only from the computer above it. Glyjin looked down at the piece and saw the writing inscribed on it. He then looked up at the computer, and saw that it had decoded the short message on the technology.

_Even when you are in your weakest form,_

_Never doubt your abilities _

_Because they shall never fail you._

_And remember Hatchling,_

_The power you seek is _

_Always the power that is hidden within yourself._

Glyjin stared at the ancient chozo lore. Even though it had no real meaning to him, it intrigued him. Who was this mysterious 'Hatchling' they talked about? He had seen the word before, but still he knew not whom they referred to. He decided that he would take the chozo technology along with the metroids. The space pirates had always been..."interested" with the chozo and the way they lived. Glyjin carefully picked up the artifact and walked back over to where the metroids were. He grabbed both of the capsules, put them under his arm, and turned to leave the frigid chamber. Just then, a soft beeping noise came from the computer behind him, and Glyjin turned back to see what it was. What he saw on the screen made his blood run cold and he ran out of room to a mildly surprised Jason.

"We gotta get out of here right now," he said as he threw the metroids and the chozo lore into Jason's bag.

"Why?" he asked Glyjin, but before he could answer, a voice came over the intercom for the whole ship to hear.

"Unauthorized entry detected. Self-destruct systems have been activated, evacuate immediately. Countdown begins at 10:00."

"That's why." Glyjin said and they sprinted out of the Quarantine Bay with their precious cargo with them.

President Wilther walked through the halls of the seemingly deserted ship, finding no one alive. The stench of death was slowly making its way through the entire ship, and once or twice the President had to stop, the smell becoming almost unbearable as she tried not to get sick. She was beginning to wonder if she was the only one still alive. She passed an open door, and looked in, not hoping to find anyone inside. Her eyes widened though as she saw Dr. Stratford lying on the floor, slightly coughing. Wilther ran in and went over to where he was, and found that he was a little worse for wear. Stratford had a swollen wrist that looked broken, a wound on his left calf that was caked with dried blood, and a nice sized gash on his forehead. He coughed again and Wilther tried to help him up.

"Dr. Stratford, are you okay?" He groaned slightly as she helped him into a chair. "What happened?" Wilther asked him. It took him awhile to answer. His eyes unglazed and he looked up at the President.

"Is that you President?" She nodded. "Glad to know I'm not the only one that's alive. I had a nice run in with our pirate friend, that's all." The President seemed a little startled to hear that.

"He let you live?" Stratford shook his head.

"No, he's still going to kill me. He swore he would, and that it would be painful." Wilther looked tenderly down on him. She could just imagine what pain he had gone through.

"Can you walk?" Stratford nodded and stood up, using the chair as a support.

"We may have leave soon President." She looked bewilderedly at him. "You see, I set the ship to self-destruct if anyone took the metroids without authorization. So as soon as that pirate takes those metroids, this whole place will go up in smoke after 10 minutes." And as if on cue, the sirens on the ship begin going off, signaling the impending doom of the vessel. Stratford looked up at the sound.

"And that, my dear President, is our cue out of here."

_**Chapter VII **_

The ship was exploding around Glyjin and Jason as they ran through the Carrier. The Quarantine Bay was far behind them now, and the only destination both of them had in mind now was the docking bay. They only had five more minutes to get out of the ship, and Glyjin was becoming concerned at where they were headed.

"You do know where the docking bay is from here, right?" he asked Jason, who was puffing along beside him.

"Yeah, we don't have much farther now, trust me Pirate."

Another minute passed, but they still hadn't made it to the docking bays. Glyjin was getting a bad feeling in his stomach, but he kept following Jason nonetheless. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Jason spotted the door to the docking bay.

"Come on, its just up here. We should be able to escape on one of the smaller cruise ships in there." They sped up slightly as the ship rocked from the blowing pistons and pipes. Glyjin and Jason went into the hanger to find plenty of the ships were still in working order. They had three minutes left.

Jason ran around, trying to find a ship that would start, and finally found one at the bottom of the hanger. Before Jason could get up to it, an explosion rocked the inside wall of the hanger, sending Jason flying into the back of the ship, bleeding. Glyjin yelled out to him, and sped up despite rocking floor underneath him. He grimaced as he saw Jason's wounds. The skin on his left arm had been torn apart from the blast, and it looked as if his leg might be broken.

"Shit, kid," he said as he swung Jason gently over his shoulder. "Helping pirates, getting you arm blown off, you sure love taking risks." Jason smiled weakly as Glyjin carried him onto the ship.

Glyjin went over to the ship and jumped on top of it, preparing to descend. He then heard something behind him, and he looked back, seeing the President of the Galactic Federation, along with the now-conscious Dr. Stratford. He smiled as they looked up at the pirate resting calmly on top of the ship. Glyjin grinned and saluted them as he descended into the ship, as if to say to them, "Oh, well, you tried to stop me. To late now, hope you make it out alive." As if a pirate would say something so hospitable as 'hope you make it out alive.' But President Wilther didn't dwell on it long, she only had two minutes left to get off the ship.

Glyjin looked around the ship and saw the controls. He softly set Jason down on the floor and started up the engines of the ship and opening up the hanger doors. Glyjin leaned forward in his chair and held his breath, hoping for the best. They had a little under a minute to get away. He could feel the ships turbines fire, and the small cruiser ship launched out of the hanger. Glyjin flew the ship to a safe distance and they turned back to watch the explosion of the once Research Carrier. As Glyjin watched the explosion, he breathed a sigh of relief, and noticed another small ship that also seemed to be streaking away from it. He smiled; he'd still have his chance to kill Stratford, just as he had promised.

Glyjin ser the ship to auto pilot and went back to where Jason was laying. Jason coughed and looked up at him. Weakly, he said, "Hey Pirate. We make it out ok?"

"I did, but you weren't so lucky. I have to wrap up your arm, or your gonna lose way too much blood." Glyjin left him and came back a minute later with medical tape, and wrapped Jason's arm securely. Jason tried to stand, but fell when his leg wouldn't support him.

"What is it? Broken leg?" Jason shook his head and grimaced. "No it's just a sprained ankle. I'll live." Glyjin made to look at his ankle but a small beeping noise from the controls caught his attention and he walked up to it. It was a message from a nearby Galactic ship. Glyjin read through the message quickly, sent a response back to them, and then went back over to Jason and untied his bandages.

"What are you doing? I'm going to start bleeding again if you take that off! And what was that beeping noise?"

"The beeping was a message from a nearby GF ship, and I'm taking off the bandages so it doesn't look so weird to them when they come and get you off of this ship." Jason's eyes widened and for a second, he didn't understand. But then he knew; Glyjin was going to call for help from them.

"I don't need their help, Pirate. I'll be fine." He winced as Glyjin took off the last strip off of his arm, exposing the wound once more to the elements. Glyjin laughed.

"You'll die if you come with me. There's no doubt that when you go in front of my High Command, you'll die on the spot. No, it'll be better if you go off with them." Jason could say nothing as the ship sailed toward the Galactic Federation's much larger frigate. Through the frigate's systems, the ship docked and two medics and a soldier came out to the ship. As the hatch opened and a medic and soldier descended into the ship, Glyjin jumped out of sight and waited for them to leave. The medic hurried over to Jason while the soldier looked around, as if searching for the hidden pirate.

"Careful," Jason said weakly. "There's a pirate on board. I wouldn't want you guys to get hurt." The doctor looked down at him and said "Yes, I know, that's why we brought the soldier with us. Trust me, you'll be off of this ship in no time." As the doctor took Jason off the ship, the soldier stayed on, searching still for the secluded creature on board. A small chirp resounded through the ship, catching the soldier's attention, and Glyjin sprang into action.

Jason lay down on the stretcher waiting for him. They rolled him along for a bit, but he turned when he heard the turbines of the ship start up behind him and the doctors. Somehow, he wasn't surprised to see a dead body being thrown out of it as it took off. The doctor's started shouting as they raced back to the spot where the ship was at seconds ago, but he never heard what they said. He smiled to himself. _See ya later, Pirate._

_**Chapter VIII**_

_A lone pirate stood amid the destruction on the planet of K-2L. This had been his doing, and he was taking in the satisfaction of it before heading out like the other space pirates. His face was young, and not the scarred piece of flesh that it would become. He began to walk away when he turned his head, and looked at something through the rising smoke and cinders. The pirate couldn't tell what it was, so he made his way over to it, expecting anything else than what he saw. _

_ A small child was standing among the charred ruins of a home, crying. She was covered in ash and a couple of small cuts and bruises, but was relatively fine, and by the looks of it, was no older than seven years old. The pirate walked over to the small child, expecting her to run and hide in fear. She didn't, but turned to the pirate, her ashen face streaked with the tears rolling down her cheeks. _

_"Do you know where my mommy and daddy is? They said they would be right here..." A few more tears leaked out of her striking blue eyes as she looked around for someone who never was going to show up. The space pirate felt no need to lie to the small child; she would to know the truth sooner or later._

_"They're dead, kid. They aren't coming back." The child then did something that the pirate did not expect. She ran over to him and started crying as she hugged his leg. The pirate was completely baffled. He had no idea what to do, so he halfheartedly patted the girl's head. He pulled away and stood watching the poor child._

_"Alright, that's enough of that. What happened happened, and you can't change the past. It's pointless to cry over something you can't change, it just wastes time and energy." The girl looked up at him and a few more tears ran lines through the layer of ash on her face. The pirate hesitated for a moment, then bent down and brushed them away. He didn't know why he did, it just seemed appropriate for the occasion, and he couldn't help it. It was just a child, and he felt he should at least drop his guard, just this one time. The small girl cocked her head at the pirate._

_"My mommy told me that it was good to cry, and that there was nothing wrong with it." She sniffed and her wet blue eyes stared curiously into his. The pirate shrugged his shoulders._

_"Believe what you want, and I'll believe what I want. I just don't think its good to cry, it distracts me from what I should be doing." The girl nodded at that, happy with the answer, and went silent for a moment, her blonde hair blowing slightly in the wind._

_"Do you have a name?" she said, and looked up at the pirate. _

_"Yeah," he said. "It's Glyjin." The girl frowned a bit._

_"Don't you have a last name?" He shook his head. _

_"My race doesn't have last names. If we have to address ourselves formally, then we say our father's name. I'm Glyjin, the son of Rosatax. What about you? I'm sure you have a name too." The child nodded._

_"My name is Samus, and my last name is Aran. So I'm Samus Aran." She went silent for a moment and looked up at Glyjin with fierce eyes. _

_"Do you know who killed everybody, and who killed my parents and my puppy?"_

_Glyjin was silent for a moment. He knew exactly who had, but he didn't know how Samus would react when he told her. He took a deep breath._

_"I did, and so did all of the other space pirates that were here. My commander, Ridley, killed your family. I'm sorry." Samus' eyes welled up with tears again, and Glyjin looked away, the satisfaction of his mission slowly dwindling away. She then looked up at Glyjin, her eyes alight with an inner fire. Glyjin stared at her. The difference it made in Samus' face was stunning. Before it had held a child's innocence, but now some of that innocence was gone, and her face was hard and cold. _

_"When I get older," she said "I'm gonna kill all of the pirates, and that mean ol' Ridley too. I'm gonna kill them all just like they killed everyone here." Samus looked up at Glyjin. "Except you." She said. His eyes widened._

_"Why?" _

_"Well, you're not gonna kill me, are you?" Glyjin thought about that question for a while. _

_"No, I'm not." He said finally and smiled at her._

_"Well," she said, crossing her arms. "I'm not gonna kill you neither." Glyjin gave her a confused look._

_"How will you know its me, Samus? Space pirates all look pretty alike." Her eyes softened a bit. _

_"Because I won't look at you, but you're heart. Mommy told me to look at someone's heart instead of themselves 'cause it's more important." Glyjin smiled and closed his eyes._

_"I don't really have much of a heart." He said with morbid amusement. Samus looked back at him and frowned. _

_"You _have_ to have a heart. How'd do you like people without a heart? Plus, how do you like me without a heart?" Glyjin raised an eyebrow at her._

_"Who said I like you?" he told her. Samus just crossed her arms again and looked up at him with her fierce young eyes._

_"Well, you didn't want me to die, so I guess you like me." He smiled at her._

_"Yeah, I guess I do like you." Samus smiled and gave him a hug, and he returned it in full. Some time had passed since Glyjin had first found the child, and he knew he would have leave before someone started wondering where he was, or the Galactic Federation came for any survivors. _

_"Hey, Samus, I have to leave, but I promise that you'll be okay, okay?" She looked up at him with longing eyes._

_"Why?" she protested._

_"Because," he said, "I have to get back to my job. Someone will come for you though, and I promise that you'll be fine. If not, someone's going to have to answer to me." He smiled down at her, and messed up her hair. Samus giggled and looked up at him. _

_"See ya later kid." He said and walked away from the wreckage._

_"Bye Glyjin," he heard her say softly behind him, but he knew not to look back. He knew she would be fine, and that she would grow up safe and sound. But his near future wasn't looking very bright. _

_As soon as Glyjin had walked out of eye and earshot of the wrecked home, he heard the flutter of wings in the wind and something large land on the ground in front of him. Glyjin stared in horror as the dragonish form of Ridley came into view through the lingering smoke. Behind Glyjin, a small child peeked out from behind a pile of smoking wood, wondering where her new friend had gone._

_"Hello Glyjin," he said softly. "I believe we have something to talk about." Glyjin eyed him warily, and didn't answer. When no response was forthcoming, Ridley narrowed his eyes and continued. "I believe I overheard you talking to a young female human not too long ago." Still, Glyjin didn't answer. Ridley took that as a 'yes' and said calmly, "Why didn't you kill her, Glyjin?" He closed his eyes and forced himself to answer his great leader._

_"I felt that I didn't need to, sir. After all, she was only a child, what harm could she be?" A small hiss escaped Ridley's mouth._

_"She could be our complete downfall for all you know, you insolent fool. She will bear as a witness to our attack, and tell the Galactic Federation of our plans, our whereabouts. She even vowed to kill us all when she got older."_

_"But sir, she was only a child, of course she would want to that. What are the chances that she really will? By my account, she has done nothing wrong but survived." _

_"Which is why her actions must be punished. I want you to kill her, Glyjin." Glyjin's eyes widened in shock as he heard the order. He could not; he would not. As much as he would have hated admitting it, that child was the only light he had in his life, and he wasn't about to watch it die at his hands. _

_"No, sir." His said with a quiet fury. Ridley was taken aback. Never before had his orders been denied, and a snarl could be heard within his throat. It abruptly stopped as he thought of a good enough discipline for the unruly pirate, and seriously considered death. He sighed and closed his eyes._

_"Glyjin, you have brought this upon yourself." He opened his eyes and they flashed evilly. Before Glyjin could react, Ridley swiped out a clawed hand from nowhere, striking him in the chest. Glyjin screamed in agony as the talons traced deep gouges out of his exoskeleton. Ridley screeched, and then another pair of claws came up and grazed his face, leaving half-inch deep marks in his cheek. Glyjin fell onto the ground, his wounds pouring out blood as he tried to remain conscious. Samus looked over at the lifeless form of Glyjin, tears brimming in her eyes, and hatred in her heart. Ridley's huge form loomed above Glyjin, an evil grin spread across his face. _

_"If you survive this attack, then I'll give you a second chance. But never again will this happen Glyjin, or you will feel my wrath ten-hold." At that, Ridley unfolded his wings and took off, leaving Glyjin to his fate. Glyjin tasted the warm blood in his mouth as the world spun in front of him and he let the darkness surround his thoughts._

Glyjin roared out his pain and fury and fell out of the chair in which he was sleeping in. He snapped open his eyes to find himself back in the cockpit of the GF ship he had stolen, and not back on K-2L, wallowing in his own blood.

"Shit," he said to himself, and pulled himself back up in his chair. It had been a long time since he had had that dream, and so livid. He rubbed his eyes and brought his mind completely back to the here and now. He wondered how long he had been drifting, and decided he didn't really give a damn right now. He heard a metroid chirp in the background; they must have recovered from their cold spell since he had been asleep. He looked down at it, then closed his eyes and touched one of his long scars on his chest.

Glyjin had only survived that attack from the help of a very unlikely source-the chozo. All he could remember of that was that they had helped him, and that he had asked about Samus. He remembers them saying that she was 'in good hands,' then slumping back into unconsciousness again. He sometimes wondered where Samus was, but wherever she was, he knew she was fine. She was strong, and could handle her own.

A metroid chirped in the background again. Glyjin stared down at it, finding it quite annoying. He looked around the rest of the cabin and found a small box, just big enough to stuff that little metroid in. He looked from the metroid to the box and then back to the metroid again. He then set a course for the planet Zebes and stuffed the metroid into the box with a small note, making sure that the capsule it was in was thoroughly broken and the metroid thoroughly angered. He then stuck the metroid in a matter transporter and sat back in his chair, a small grin on his face.

Two weeks later, Federation soldiers busted their way into Dr. Stratford's office, and ducked as a large metroid dived for them as it escaped the cramped workplace. The soldiers had been expecting this from eyewitness accounts, and quickly froze the creature before it could damage anyone present. What they found in the office was not pretty. The place was in ruin, with stuff falling off the shelves and the desk in complete array. They also found a pile of dust lying on the floor as well; the metroid's last meal and the only remains of the late Dr. Stratford. Another soldier found a box in the corner, looking quite small and insignificant. It was only carrying two things, a broken capsule and a small note, which read,

"_You wanted you're test subject, Stratford. I hope you enjoy the results."_

_**The End**_

Epilogue

4 months later

A lone fighter class ship traveled through the voids of space. The ship itself was a marvel of science, made with such advanced technology that only a few knew how to use the circuitry inside. One of them was the ships' only passenger, an armored bounty hunter, whose suit was made of the same technology as the ship it traveled in. Slowly, the hunter sighed and pulled off the helmet to reveal the face of a young woman, her long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail but her deep blue eyes remained closed in thought. Her ship's computer came alive, illuminating her face in the soft glow coming off from the screen.

"You seem troubled, Samus." The ship's A.I. told her what she already knew. Samus remained silent, still thinking. The Galactic Federation had just assigned her to a new bounty, sending her to the worst possible place on the worst possible day. _Of course, _she thought, _it's not like I want the GF to know when my birthday is._ Sure, she should be happy it's her 23rd birthday, but it was bittersweet, because it was also the 15th Anniversary of the pirate raid on her old colony, K-2L, of which she was the only survivor. Now, she was being sent to Zebes, her second home with the chozo, to bring down whatever plans the space pirate's have there. _I get to have my revenge and relive painful memories on the same day, _she thought with sarcasm._ What a great birthday this will be. _She was also sincerely curious about the new creature that the space pirates were said to have. She had never heard of a 'metroid' before, and had no idea what sort of threat they could be. She did remember hearing reports a while back about a renowned scientist, Dr. Stratford, being found dead after being eaten by a metroids, and it had chilled her to know that only dust remained of him.

After a few minutes of silence Samus sighed once more and opened her eyes to stare out at the great expanse in front of her. Once upon a time, her eyes had shone with a child's innocence, but no longer. In its place was a cold inner fire, which would only die from her eyes when she got her revenge...or died trying. Her face was as beautiful as it was young, though only few ever saw its beauty, which was kept hidden behind her helmet's mask. Her skin was tan from years of training under two hot suns, her cheekbones slightly prominent to frame her flawless face. And as if they were proportionate to each other, her strength shone through her beauty, and told you that this was someone you wouldn't want to mess with.

Samus, restless, looked around the cockpit for something to do. Even though she had already spent 6 hours sleeping, she still had to kill another hour-and-a-half before arriving back on Zebes, and she didn't want to spend anymore time dosing.

"Computer, please display the current news for Earth and The Galactic Federation." At the command, a screen in front of Samus flickered to life and displayed the newest findings and articles the Galactic Federation had to offer. Most she had already read or had heard about from somewhere in the Federation, but one article caught her attention almost instantly. It was easily overlooked, as it was just some short story written by a young scientist named Jason Raptor. Samus felt as if she had heard that name somewhere, but was unable to place it. Intrigued, Samus clicked on the link and read,

"I know many people believe that space pirates are the scourge of the galaxy, and I know in a way that this is true. Many pirates ARE just that, and deserve every misfortune that comes their way. But what if, _what if_, there were a few pirates with some sort of decency in them, from whatever reason. I know what you're thinking, there's no possible way that could ever happen, esp. with a pirate. You could have your reasons; they're too corrupt, they're too evil, they're too blood thirsty. But I had one event in my life change my thinking of a pirate as just a creature looking to conquer the galaxy.

"I had been part of a deep-space research team, when I met the pirate. Though he was wounded, or maybe because of it, I met someone that was just as complicated as us human beings. He was complex, and I was always finding new aspects of his character. Though he was very hard, controlled, and yes, threatening on the exterior, there were moments when his door would open, and a flicker of something would flash across his eyes, making me believe that he was hiding something within, though I never figured out what that something was. He was also full of memory, from the scars that were splayed across his chest and face, and the fact that his experience made him older than he truly looked. There was much depth there, but that depth I never did find. It stemmed my curiosity, but I never did ask him much, for fear of what he would he to me if I interrogated him too much. Even though the pirate still had his evil plots on his mind, something about him made me trust him, and I guess something about me made him trust me as well.

"You may think that really isn't good enough to change your mind about pirates. Yes, its JUST one pirate, I can understand that fact, but this one pirate did something for me that no one else had done; that pirate saved my life. It may have been a debt repaid, for I too had saved the pirate's life for the fact that he wasn't allowed to be dead. But I had a feeling that it was something more, something just a bit deeper for the both of us. It lingered as a shadow, an emotion gone but not forgotten. It meant that that pirate cared for something, and that's saying a lot for a space pirate. Even if it is just one."

Samus stared at the screen as she finished reading what Jason Raptor had written. A small tear ran down along her cheek, the only sign of her inner emotion. She knew that pirate; she had never forgotten him for one moment in all those 15 years. She said one word softly to herself, almost so softly that even she almost didn't hear it.

"Glyijn."

Samus looked up from the screen and saw that the darkness in front of her was interrupted by a large yellow orb; the planet Zebes. Her demeanor changed instantly as she began to land on the planet's rocky, surface. Outside, acid rain thundered down on her ship from the yellowish sulfur clouds above her.

Samus smiled as she put her helmet back onto her head and ascended up into the rain. It was time to begin the hunt.


End file.
